Love is in the Air

Laura gave me a ring yesterday morning to say that she is now engaged to her boyfriend (now fiancé), Paul Wilson.  It's pretty exciting news.  They seem to go really well together and I'm sure they'll be happy.  He proposed when they went out for dinner on their anniversary.  The wedding is being scheduled for some time in June next year.

Laura and Paul

Ponderings on a Sunday morning

The sky was dark when I awoke from my slumber.  The wind howled outside, shaking the trees and screaching through the buildings.  It was quite loud.  A continuous groan, coming with peaks and troughs, but always there.  I lay in snug in my bed this morning looking out the window at the trees thrashing about.  It was like winter had come to us overnight.  The sky at that time was a dull grey but over the past hour and a half has turned to its usual deep blue.  As I've watched it change, it's got me wondering.  More of sitting here in wonder I guess, just thinking about the world and how it is able to support life such as ours.  I was thinking about what I new and what there was still to know.  I wondered about...

1. Wind.  How gusts can flow across the land.  If wind is caused by pressure then are the gusts caused by pressure on a much smaller scale?
2. The colour of the sky.  The shorter blue wavelengths are absorbed by the atmosphere and then radiated across the sky while the longer wave lengths such as the reds, yellows and oranges are not affected by the air.  The colours of sunset however are caused by the change in refraction of the light as it bends across the atmosphere.  The light takes a longer route through the atmosphere and less of the light reaches you.  Shorter wavelengths are scattered out leaving only the longer wavelengths.  Is the grey that is seen in the mornings due to the blue wavelengths refracting around but due to the position that they are hitting the earth causing even the blue, at that stage, to be refracted out.
3. Colour vision.  What would the world be like if humans didn't have colour vision?

I'll have to find out the answers to these questions.  Of course, there's always questions, it's just getting the answers that the hard part.

Buffer Practical Write Up

A buffer solution, or so Wikipedia tells me, is a solution "that resists change in hydronium ion and the hydroxide ion concentration (and consequently pH) upon addition of small amounts of acid or base".  I read that and immediately thought "WHAT?"  Now, three weeks after being told about them and learning all I could I am slowly getting it.  At the moment I am having to write up a lab report on an experiment we did with buffer solution and testing the buffering capacity of the local lake water (sodium carbonate solution).  I have one day to do it and so the race is on.  Well, actually it isn't as I'm instead writing this addition to my blog as head through procrastination valley all the way to panicsville.  I'm sure I'll arrive there later on tonight as these reports take about 10 hours (non stop - yes I've timed it) to write up.  They are only worth 3% and with all the other things that are due at the moment are quite a low priority.  This morning for instance I handed in an assignment for Cell Biology that was worth 20%.  I'm actually sitting here nibbling on a few almonds and a few raisins (I probably shouldn't mention that they are incased in a chocolate bar) and planning the report.  I'm confident that I'll finish it by tomorrow afternoon (it's due at 2 pm) so I guess that is the reason I'm not yet worrying.  I've just got to make sure I get off before Fail City.  Now where's that map?

Sleepless Nights

The clock has just ticked over 3:25 am and I am still sitting here, wide awake.  I just can't seem to get to sleep lately.  Of course, when I finally do I don't like to get up early either.  Usually I get up about 9 or even 10.  So why can't I get to sleep at night.  I'm not worrying over anything that I know of.  I don't know what it is but I do wish that I could get to sleep.  These nights aren't the best.  Lying awake in the darkness, waiting for sleep to overtake you.  I read the other day that sleep has been described as the dove that will only land when you pay no attention to it.  I like that analogy.  It's kind of true.  You can' t make yourself fall asleep, you just do.  Odd that.  

When you can't get to sleep you mind becomes more active.  In the darkness your mind becomes more alert, throwing up questions, situation and scenarios at you that you don't think about in your everyday life.  It is sort of like dreaming, only without the refreshing sleep part.  Take tonight for instance.  In the 4 or so hours that I've been trying to get to sleep my mind has covered things like:

1.  my movie collection and why I like the movies I buy
2. my uni work and which subjects I may choose next semester
3. my housemates party on the weekend and whether I should go
4. how I can get past the stage I am in playing GTA 4

5. that I really need to tidy my room and do my washing tomorrow

These are weird things.  What's more you don't just think about the subject, you go in to depth. What time I should do my washing and which coloured sheets I should put on my bed while these ones are getting washed.  Why people leave odd socks in the dryer and why is it always socks that you loose.  Then I went on to contemplate my odd sock collection and why I keep them even though their partner probably won't be found.  Then I wonder whether I should just wear them anyway.  After all, if you are wearing trousers then who really sees your socks.

These thoughts just went on and on.  Maybe that's what keeping me awake.  Worrying about my odd socks.

Underwater World

This weekend me and a couple of people from Varsity went to Underwater World.  It cost $19 to get in (using my student id for the first time), and was pretty busy.  The queue was actually out the door.  The displays that they had in there were quite impressive.  They have whole aquatic landscapes in each enclosures.  

A grey nurse shark that is in the tank.

Here is me standing in one of the tubes downstairs.  These tubes go through 3 large underwater tanks with lots of sharks, sting rays and other fish in there.  The walls are about 5 inches thick and their curve makes all the fish look approximately 20% smaller.  Even so, they looked pretty big to me.

Nearly 30!

I am now in my 29th year of life. I can't believe that I am now nearly 30. I think back at everything I've done over the past years and I have done quite a bit. I have seen quite a few things that a lot of people never get the chance to see. I've been to China, the UK, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Canada and parts of the US. I've held venomous snakes (not too venomous). I've lived in Brisbane, Alice Springs, London and now the Sunshine Coast. I've done many different jobs from upholsterer to designing web pages and networking computers to administration and office duties. I've completed both primary and high school and now 10 years after finishing my secondary education I'm finally undertaking my tertiary undergraduate studies. As I look back and I've accomplished quite a bit. I have some great memories and have met some great people too. I come to ask myself a difficult question. What next? I guess after much roaming it is only natural that I would want to find a place to settle down. That will hopefully be my next step. Of course I will still travel and see amazing sights but I think that I would like to by myself a little slice of Australia. A house or flat, something somewhere to call it my own and make it my home. Of corse before that there will be a lot more study and I know that things might change. Come to think of it. They usually do. I'll just have to prepare for the unexpected.

29 Today...

Today was my birthday. I went down to Brissie to spend it with Mum and Dad. Laura also came up with her boyfriend, Paul. Actually was a good day. We didn't do that much. Mum made a scrumptious cooked breakfast and that was pretty much it. Later on that night we went to a German restaurant in Highgate Hill for dinner. I had a rabbit dish with a yellow sauce on a bed of carrots and it really was nice. It was a good end to my birthday.

Starting at the University of the Sunshine Coast

I am sitting here in my new room on the Sunshine Coast.  Orientation week is now over.  I survived ‘O’ week but how much of the actual semester I’ll survive I don’t yet know.  I have been looking in to some of the text books and lecture notes that are in the book shop and for the ones that I am doing they seem to be a lot more maths orientated than I would have liked.  In fact, it seems that every page I opened seemed to have some sort of mathematical equation on it.  Now, I’m no good at maths.  I don’t mind saying it as I only managed to pass grade 10 maths with a sound, and received a limited achievement in grade 12.  So as you can see it’s not looking too good at the moment.  Of course this is just speculation on how I might cope as I haven’t even had a class yet.  I don’t know.  I’ve been out of school for 10 years and have pretty much forgotten everything that I was taught in school including quite a few of the basic mathematical concepts.  Ah well.  Have to see how it goes.  I have until the 29^th of March to decide whether or not I would like to keep going with the subjects I have chosen and can change them without penalty up until that point.  I will give it three weeks and then decide.

So what are my thoughts on the past week or so?  On the accommodation front everything is fine.  The room is a little smaller than I imagined and a bit more cramped but all in all it is all that I need.  I must say though that the people who run the Varsity Apartments where I am staying seem to be a bit anal.  It seems like the smallest thing upsets them.  The house rules are very strict.  Take for example this afternoon.  I came back to the flat and found a note on the workbench.  They had come in to ‘clean’ today which we are supposed to get done every fortnight in the common area.  I don’t know what they did.  The workbench still had crumbs all over it.  It did look as if they had vacuumed the settee though.  What else they did I don’t know as I can’t see it.  Anyway the note said that the microwave was not clean enough and that the bin had not been emptied.  Now, I’ve only have one meal in this place and have never used the microwave so neither of these things applied to me.  Even so it said that if they weren’t rectified by the next day then each resident would be slugged $50 to clean it.  That would be $200 to clean the microwave and take out the rubbish.  They certainly know how to make their money out of the tenants.  The fact is thought that they are supposed to be cleaning the common area.  I really don’t understand how they can claim to do the cleaning and then say it wasn’t clean enough for the cleaner.  Then they have the gall to say they will charge each resident $50 if it isn’t done.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  Come to think of it, The uni also does that.  Despite paying about $1900 per unit (4 units done each semester equalling $7600) with the government paying most leaving a student contribution of around $2600.  You still have to pay for your internet usage in the library which would be paying for researching things for uni assignments.  You also have to pay for the hire of safety equipment in the labs or buy it yourself.  While I’m having a gripe on how much everything costs, each text book is nearly $100 and they don’t just give you one to buy per subject.  Oh no, sometimes it’s 2 or 3 books  you need to get.  They certainly no how to make money out of you.  At the coop bookshop you can become a member which gives you a 10% discount on most books you buy.  Of course you have to pay to become a member.  Another thing that I didn’t realise is how far away the campus is.  When I chose this uni I thought that it was just on the other side of the city and it would be pretty easy to go home for the weekends if I wanted.  Well it is on the other side of the city just two hours away from it.  It take quite a bit of time to drive here even though it is only 100 km from Brissie because of the traffic.  There is traffic from the time you get on the South East Freeway until you get off the Bruce Highway and on to the Sunshine Motorway.  It is quite far away indeed.  I also didn’t really budget for not having to pay for the petrol to get up here.  When I get Austudy it will only be $355 per fortnight with $70 pf as rent assistance.  After paying for my accommodation it will only leave me with $145 per fortnight to live off.  As a tank of petrol can get me 400km and it costs around 80 to fill the tank the I could go home at weekends but I would not have any other money for anything else.  Of course that is if I get Austudy.  I only applied today so I am just hoping that everything will be alright and I’ll be able to get it.  I have also filled in an application for an equity scholarship.  If I got one of them it would certainly help me out a lot.  We’ll just have to see on that one.

The university campus is nice enough.  For most of the week it was overcast and drizzely but yesterday the clouds cleared and today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  The campus itself is pretty modern the centre piece being a building that looks like a cheese grater or an upturned shopping trolley.  The rest of the buildings circulate out from the library with lawns and gathering areas in between buildings.  It is quite nice.  There is a mob of kangaroos that seem to hang around the campus which is quite nice.  On the first day they were sitting on the grass in the middle of the university watch everyone arrive.  I think that they are quite tame as they always seem to be hanging around the people there.  This week I have been attending the orientation activities such as lectures on note taking, time management, reading skills and subject specific information.  There have also been tours of the campus and today there was even a free sausage sizzle put on by the Rotary Club.  Classes start next week and hopefully everything will go well.  I’ve teed up to by an old chemistry book of one of my housemates and the rest I’ll have to get early next week.  On Monday I think I’ll head in to find out about the interest free loan that you can apparently get from student services.

Federal Election

The past 3 years have gone very fast. The last time a federal election came around I was living in London and went to vote at the Australian Embassy. This time I am in Alice Springs. A far cry away from the hustle and bustle of the London or any city in fact. My new house backs on to the school where the voting was taking place. That means it was only a 5 minute walk to the poling booth. I went in the back way to avoid all of the candidate supporters who were handing out the how to vote cards. I walked up, gave my name and they gave me my voting cards and I wandered over to the booth to fill it in. In the senate I voted for the Greens first and CLP second. In the House of Representatives I voted for the Greens followed by the independents and down the line with the CLP and Labour last. Even though I voted for the Greens as my first preference I did want Kevin Rudd and Labour to get in. I believe that John Howard has lost touch with the common man and after 11 years we really needed a change of government.
I've just found out that Kevin Rudd is now going to be the new PM. I wonder how he'll do and whether a lot will change.

To A Room Of My Own

I have now left Bhram's place and have moved in to my own. I now live about in Gason Street which is about a 10 minute ride from work. It is a nice place and the people there are quite friendly. I am sharing with two girls, one is a lawyer and the other a yoga instructor. Also living there is a dog and a cat. We also get peridoic visits from the neighbours kitten. Both of my new housemates seem pretty friendly so hopefull it should work out well. It seemed to be harder this time to find a place. I am too truthful as I always tell people that I might only be there for 3 months as I have applied to go to university. That's probably why it took me around 4 weeks of looking to find somewhere. I am all settled in now and it was good to finally have my own place again.